THE ARTIST
VALERIE
My attachment to pyrography dates back to my childhood. At first I saw this technique from my dad, I was immediately conquered by this art. In my 20s, I decided to actually orient myself in the direction of art.
In 2010 I graduated from the University of Nyíregyháza with a basic degree in visual representation, majoring in painting where I was able to gain a deeper insight into the world of sculpture, graphics and painting.
The first milestone in my life was when I came across the first pyrographic tool of my life in a shopping mall on Christmas of 2013. I learned the tricks of the technique in a self-taught way.
My first attempt was a portrait of little Cosette.
My first exhibition "The Art of Fire" was hosted by the Nyírtelek City Library in 2014, where my wood-burnings and other works were also presented (digital drawings, oil paintings).
In general, natural materials such as wood, leather, bone, paper can be decorated with this technique. The given image, motif, text can be burned by hand with burners (similar to soldering irons) or even with sunlight collected through a lens. In the beginning, I worked with the simplest machine, did not have a temperature controller and I triggered with the speed of moving the burner.
The lighter tones were achieved with fast movements, while the darker parts were achieved with slow firing. With regard to wood materials, you need to have some knowledge (e.g. wood type, the hardness of the wood type, the toxic substances , etc ...) light colored woods such as beech, birch, linden you can contrast the image on them.
In most cases, I burn on plywood. The first step in the creation is the polishing of the wood. Once I faintly draw the facial features on the beautiful, smooth surface with hand, the burning of the wood can begin.
Today I have a professional burner (Razertip Sk) I can also control the temperature, which means great ease in creating tones, and you can choose from plenty of tips / heads and find the one that suits me best to achieve the desired texture. I always start making a portrait by burning the eyes, followed by shading the skin and finally shaping the texture of the hair. For more effective contrast, I use a white pencil for highlights.
This technique is time consuming and requires a high degree of precision, in any case for portrait burning. An A / 4 image takes about 20 hours to make, but I love every moment of the process.
In 2017, one of my pyrographic works (Self-Portrait) was included - with the help of the editor of the American Fox Chapel Publishing - Jo Schwartz's Woodburning Realistic People book.
My work so far can be viewed on social media sites, and I make videos of the progress, which I upload to my youtube channel as well. In addition to start my own business, my goal is to write my own pyrography book about burning of Portrait.
“The joy of creation is not some kind of privilege that only belongs to great scientists or artists. All people, in any occupation, can do creative work and experience its passions, searches, achievements and discoveries if they want to and are able to realize themselves. ”
/ Nikolai Nikolayevich Semyonov /
